I don’t know how to begin. A musical based on Obama? Ok not far fetch look at Obama Girl. Then add a secret evil society, and vampires. Someone must have been smoking the stuff that Bill Clinton didn’t inhale. When I first heard about Barackula, I thought it was some corny joke. I was wrong. It is a real musicial inspired by Barack Obama ideals.

SynopsisBarackula is a short political horror rock musical about young Barack Obama having to stave off a secret society of vampires at Harvard when he was inducted into presidency at the Harvard Law Review in 1990. Obama (Justin Sherman) finds that he must convince the vampire society that opposing political philosophies can coexist or else the society may transform Obama to the dark side. Reminiscent to Michael Jackson’s Thriller and a slight infusion of Jesus Christ Superstar, the film solely depicts Obama’s strengths, merits and genuineness while being quietly respectful towards the other presidential candidates. This short musical is highly entertaining with dancing Harvard student vampires, fantastic choreography by Victor Tang and Sherman’s physical likeness to Obama is remarkable. Shot on the new RED ONE camera, the quality of the film itself is stunning. Produced by Justin Sherman, Gavin Leighton, Brooke Shirey and Mike Lawson, Barackula – The Musical is exceedingly unique amidst today’s vast online media created by the voting public. The intent of the film makers is to create something fun and memorable during this year’s election. Release date is expected by February 2008.

Finally the world is now right again…sort of. One of my favorite shows is returning as full length feature on DVD (now only if they can bring it back as a series; I can only take so much of ‘My Sweet 16th Birthday’). Futurama: Bender’s Big Score will be released on DVD late November. Here is the trailer to hold you over.

On this blog, I try to find cool an interesting things online. Sometimes I have an opinion on a topic online and write about it especially about my culture and ethnicity. Being a black man, this post hits close to home. It is about a movie/documentary entitled ‘What Black Men Think‘. With all the media focusing on the negative aspects of black culture and society (hip hop, education, relationships, crime, etc.), there is very little positive conversation or images of black culture especially about black men in the media. That where this movie comes into play.

IN THE MOST PROVOCATIVE BLACK FILM OF THE YEAR, JANKS MORTON PRESENTS A SEARING EXAMINATION OF THE ROLE THAT MYTHS, STEREOTYPES AND MISREPRESENTATIONS HAVE PLAYED IN THE DECIMATION OF MODERN ERA BLACK RELATIONSHIPS, AND HOW THE SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENT, THE MEDIA AND BLACK LEADERSHIP PERPETUATES MISINFORMATION TO FURTHER MARGINALIZE THE ROLE OF BLACK MEN IN SOCIETY.

The movie also features the spoken word artist Taalam Acey who will be in Milwaukee as part of the Stillwaters Spoken Word Show on October 19th at the Milwaukee Public Library. There is a clip of him in the movie at the site. I chose not to post it here because of the strong language. However, he does makes some interesting points. You can get the video here.

Since I switch careers from Architecture to Radio. I see the power of broadcast media. How one song you play can affect someone or a certain words can move or offend. It is quite an amazing medium. That is why I really want to see the movie ‘Talk to Me’.

Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle portrays the one and only Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene Jr.; Petey’s story is funny, dramatic, inspiring — and real. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself — sometimes to outrageous effect — and “tell it like it is.”

I just found about this really interesting documentary which you can download for free. The name of the documentary is Good Copy, Bad Copy. The documentary is about the current state of copyright and culture.
The movie posed some interesting questions to the music industry and film industry.

Instead of trying to evolve and innovate, these industries rather hire lawyers and sue kids (who are usually the biggest fans). The industry says downloading killed their business. Me personally, I think it is their lack of motivation and creativity to capitalize on this technology that killed them.

Go download the film and let me know what you think. You will need a torrent client such as bittorrent or transmission for the mac or better yet get Democracy and you can download it and watch it.

I found about this on the jetsetshow video blog. The film is called ‘Four Eyed Monsters’ and it is the first full length film on youtube. It is film about the two filmmakers meeting online and establishing a relationship and creating this flick. The reason they released it on youtube was in hopes to get some kind of distribution to theaters. So if you like maybe ask your local theater to screen it. The two filmmakers even have video podcast at there site. You can also buy a DVD or high quality downloads. The film will be only on youtube until Aug 15th. Why don’t y’all check it out and post your review here, and if you know of any theater that might be interested screening the film let them know. (Caution: Adult Situations and conversations-i.e. not for the kiddies)

The legendary french duo known as Daft Punk are set to release a new movie entitled ‘Electroma’. They will be one of the headliners at Lollapalooza this year in Chicago. From Wikipedia:

The plot revolves around the quest of two robots (the band members, played by Peter Hurteau and Michael Reich) in becoming human. The music featured in this film is not by Daft Punk.[1] This is a first for the duo considering their previous film and home video releases, Interstella 5555 and D.A.F.T..

I saw a story about West Bank Story. It is an Oscar winning short film. It is a comedy based off the musical ‘Westside Story”. It takes the basic plot of Westside Story and replaces the characters with Palestinians and Israelis. It is a comedy. I saw the story about this on CNN World. It has won multiple awards at variety festivals around the world. It is even got official selection from festivals in United Arab Emirates and in Israel. You can buy the DVD here.